A lot of doctors

Don't tell your God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your God is.


Before we left the family reunion on Saturday, Hope started running a fever. I blamed it on her teeth, as she is cutting 3 at once.  One has now broken through.  However,  the fever got higher and she got grumpier as the days went by.  So I took her to see the Doctor on Tuesday.  She had a bad sore throat and is being treated for strep, even thought the test came back negative.  The Dr. didn't want to chance it.
Wednesday I took Braden and Zach into the doctors.  Braden for his scout physical and Zach to get rid of some ugly warts  and to have a lump on his leg looked at.  The Dr. said that Braden has a heart murmur.  He honestly thought we knew about it because those are usually found at a young age.  But no one had said anything to us about it before.  So Braden was scheduled to have an ECHO at the AF hospital on Friday.  We had it done and should get the results back on Monday.  The Dr. then attacked Zach's warts and looked at the lump on his leg, near his knee.  He said that it wasn't muscles and thought that it may be a bone cyst.  So Zach had x-rays taken on Thursday and it wasn't a bone cyst.  The doctor isn't sure what it is.  But it is definitely something.  So Zach now has an appointment with a bone specialist  on August 5th.
 I told the boys,  "I take you in for easy peasy stuff and now look.  Your stressing me out."  Zach's reply was"Mom, that's our job!!!".  We all laughed.
To add to it, I have 2 Dr. appointments for me in the next10 days.
Good thing we save for these kind of rainy days.

The R's family reunion at Bear Lake

This years Family reunion was quit interesting, to say the least.  We had reservations at Payson Lakes.  My sister got a call from them the day before we were to go and said that they were closed for a few days because of bear problems.  Now what to do?  The weekend of the 24th of July isn't an easy week to find camp grounds....and so Teri (my oldest sister) called her In-Laws that live in in Idaho and have beach front property at Bear Lake to see if we could camp on their property.  They lovingly said Yes!!!  So we changed some plans at home, did some more packing and headed to Idaho.


We had a great time on the private beach and playing in the water.

There are lots and lots of little sea shells every where.  The children enjoyed collecting them.  Even Hope helped.  Ethan decided that if we collected a lot that we could bring them home and put them in our sand box.  Then we can play beach at home.

Ethan and his bowl full of sea shells

 we  played outdoor games and cooking outdoors.

Our family decided to go to Minnetonka cave.  Mike told us that it wasn't that cold.  And that we didn't even have to hike in to get to it.  So off we went.
Good thing we had a blanket in the car and that Paige and Zach had on their light jackets to share.  The cave temp is 40 degrees F.  Guess it may not be cold to some, but to kids it is.

                                                     Here we are before we go in the cave.

While waiting for our tour through the cave we read many facts about it. 

Fact 1.  The cave is 40 degrees all year round.

Fact 2.  There are 888 steps through out the cave.

Fact 3.  The longest stair case has 71 steep steps.                       

Fact 4. Bats live in the cave.           

Fact 5. The round trip through the cave is about 1 1/2 miles and takes about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish.

 

We took turns carrying Hope.  She loved the cave and would point and squeal.  Then she got tired and fell asleep.  It is hard to carry dead weight.  And even harder going down the steps that are uneven and wet...when you can't see your feet.  But we all made it and thought that it was amazing.

Us at the end of the tour. Out side the cave . Tired but happy.

This is an original pioneer log cabin on the Lovelands property .  It has a few updated things on it as it was lived in until about 40 years ago.  There is also an old 

Black smith building that is now used as a shed.

What a great 3 days of camping and partying.

Could this week get any crazier???

Could this week get any crazier???
Zach went on an over nighter  with the scouts.  Loren also went as a parent volunteer.  The scouts were to back pack in to their camp site which was supposed to be about a 5 mile hike.  Loren and another Dad drove to the camp site to set up camp and get dinner ready.  To their surprise a site had not been reserved and the place was full.  So they travel further on and found a place that they thought was free camping, got everything set up and fires going, in time for the ranger to show up.  The ranger asked what they thought they were doing and they told them about the scouts.  Apparently, they site was reserved and had been paid for by someone else.  The ranger hung around until everything was taken apart and put away.
Loren then proceeded to call one of the leaders on the hike to let them know...only to find out that they weren't sure how much longer it be until they made it into camp.  Hours went by....and still no sight of them.  The leaders finally decided that they must have taken a wrong turn and where LOST.  Loren told them to turn around and come back the way they had gone in and he would meet them at the trail head. This was at around 11:00 P.M.  Loren kept in touch with them most of the way back down the mountain  (when they had reception). Loren called me to let me know what was going and and told me to pray for their safe return.  So of course I did.  I was worried and stressed. Loren and the other Dad where very concerned about the boys and how they were doing and if they would be able to find their way back down. So they got in touch with the Sheriff, who told them as long as they were headed down the mountain, they would make it into Provo.  The Sherif how ever went out to look for them in his truck with night vision goggles.  The boys made it back to the trail head around 1:00 a.m. tired, hungry, and exhausted.  Loren and the other Dad had jerky and some other snacks and drinks for the boys.  The boys where then told to call home and inform their parents that they where headed home to wait for them. Loren and Zach made it home about 2:30 after dropping off some of the scouts and explaining to sleepy parent what had happened.  I of course couldn't sleep until I saw them in my house safe and sound.  Not a lot of sleep for us last night.

The 5 mile hike turned out to be more like a 13 mile hike.  Zach says that he is never going camping again.  I don't blame him.  He will be going camping again...just wait and see.
I am very grateful for the power of prayer and to my Heavenly Father for watching over all of the scouts.

One of those dayssssss

Have you every had one of those days where things just don't go the way you would like?  Well I have had a few of them right in a row.
First Hope got sick Sunday evening with a stomach bug.  It isn't fun cleaning up small throw ups and diarrhea that makes out of the diaper.  Monday Hope is still ill and I get a call from my mother saying that my Aunt Janice suddenly passed away from... doctors are unsure at this point.  She went into a coma at her home and was found by her daughter the same day.  My poor Uncle Bob is in a nursing home right now recovering from hip surgery and going through physical therapy to find out his wife would not make it through the day.  Aunt Janice is my father's only sibling and I feel for him right now.
Tuesday...Hope is still ill. Parker fell from the monkey bars in our backyard and cut his head open.  Luckily no stitches were needed. He just has a sore head.
Wednesday...Both Braden and Paige now have the stomach bug but hope is feeling better though still has the runs.  I'm hoping that the kids are better tomorrow so the 2 older ones can make it to youth conference and I can make it to the funeral.
I think Loren need to give a few blessings tonight.

On the upside, I saw 2 deer prance through the field behind our house. What a gorgeous sight.

Camping at Cherry Hill

We went camping at Cherry Hill July 5th - 8th.  It was a blast.  Not only can you camp there but also has a huge water park, miniature golf, rock climbing, areo ball, batting cages, and more.  Here are some picture's of our fun.

Hope 10 Month's Old

                                Wow I can't believe how fast time flies, Hope is 10 month's old.

                                                She plays pat a cake and roll your arms

She loves to put her toys into other toys or containers and playing with her brothers.

*Loves water...swimming pool, sprinklers, bathes, etc.

*Army crawls and lately started what we call the stink bug crawl, her behind up in the air.

*She is trying to walk on her own, she has taken 3 steps without holding on to anything but is still a little hesitant.

* would rather eat real food, not baby food.

Sunny June

The warmer weather has finally arrived, along with weeds and allergy's.
Trying to stay on top of the weeds this year has been almost impossible.
My poor vegetable garden has been over taken with the ugly things.  But I'm not in a rush to clear them out, since most of my plants went to seed.  I forgot just how much time a baby takes and the garden has been neglected.  Oh well, I can always try again next year.

Braden is 16!!!  He new summer clothes so Paige and I took him shopping.  Loren and I took him to the Olive Garden for dinner and stopped and bought cake and ice cream for everyone at home.  Braden didn't want any, he said he was too full to eat anymore.  WHAT???? Braden full, that is a small miracle.  He can get his drivers license in August so I have been out driving with him a few times.  Next we will practice the great task of parallel parking.
Braden was ordained a Priest on Sunday and will now get the awesome responsibility of blessing the sacrament.

Paige and Zach were both in the Lehi parade.  Paige was in both the Fri and Sat parades and Zach carried a big flag in the Saturday parade.  Loren tried to get a pic of Zach with his phone but wasn't fast enough.

Paige went to girls camp and had a blast even though they had a big wind storm and things blew away, like a canopy.  The camp leaders in our ward a great and had many activities to keep the girls busy.

We bought a summer pass to the outdoor Lehi pool.  We try to go at least 2 times a week or more.

Hope wasn't sure about it the first time we went but she loves it now.  She cries when we leave no matter how long we have been there.